Tuesday, April 07, 2009

I had quite a few requests asking me to share how I made the fondant shells on my giant cupcake. They are very fast and easy to make but they look very impressive!

First start with fondant. You can either make your own (there are recipes online) or you can buy it premade.

Fondant doesn't taste very good but I heard that this brand "Satin Ice" is the best tasting. (available at Global Sugar Art) I'm still using the fondant left over from my cake decorating class so I haven't opened this one yet to try it. There is also recipes for marshmallow fondant that I heard taste better as well. You can do a google search to find those. You will also need a silicon shell mold, which you can buy online at Global Sugar Art, small paint brushes and lustre dust. I bought my lustre dust at Michaels in the cake decorating section.

First you want to knead a little bit of fondant. If it's sticky you can use a little corn starch or powdered sugar. You can either use the fondant white or add some paste food coloring. If you've never used this before...a little goes a long way. Just dip the tip of a toothpick in the color and dab it on the fondant and knead it until the color is blended.

I like to combine two colors and knead them together just a little so you get a two toned effect.

Take a small amount of the fondant and place it in the mold.

Press down and remove any excess.

Turn the mold over and bend it to get the shell to release.

You can let these harden a bit overnight or you can continue on with brushing on the lustre dust. Just dip your brush in the bottle and brush on the shell. Lustre dust can also be used by mixing a little with some clear vanilla extract or vodka to make a liquid paint. I used mine dry though.

I like to use multiple colors on each shell. The colors I've used are a bronze, pink, gold, yellow and pearl white.

That's it! You can store these a LONG time in an airtight container until you are ready to use them.

This would be a great project to do with kids...it's so easy!

45 comments:

That looks like so much fun! I didn't know you could do that. When I got married (years ago) I made my own cake. I wanted shells... but not knowing what I was doing at all... I just decorated the cake with real ones (cleaned). I still use those same shells to decorate with!

Cindy,I am in awe of those cupcakes and shells. Thank you so much for sharing! I hate to say this but I am positive that living near the beach, my girls will want to make them and post on my blog but I promise to link to your beautiful blog when we do.Many blessings,Suzanne

Wow ~ I never would've dreamed something that impressive-looking could actually be uncomplicated to create! How exciting! If you wouldn't have taken the time to demonstrate the process, I would've been way too intimidated to even try!

Thanks,Karin

Will you show us a picture of your birdies in their new home?? Pretty please??

Karin,The birds aren't in their new home yet. I got one in but I realized the top bars are too far apart and I think they can get out. Luckily he flew right back out into his old cage. I'm weaving some wire in and out of the top rails and then I'll have to paint the top again.

Oh Cindy! I have a great tip for you to save lots of money on molds, you can get the plastic chocolate molds that only cost like $2.00-$3.00.

You can use them just like the more costly molds.

If you have any trouble getting the fondant to come out just pop the tray in the freezer for a few minutes and then they pop right out.

So if you have a large order you can get several plastic trays and make lots all at one time.

But, I do love the molds you used. They get really detailed on some of them.

You can also buy stuff even at Michael's to make your own molds. That way if you have a figure or something special you can make your own mold to use on cakes, cupcakes or cookies.

I didn't even know Michael's sold luster dust. I thought they only had some other kind of powder, I forget what it was called. It's good to know they have it now.

Oh one last thing, Satin Ice is ok flavor but the best is Choco Pan. It's made with white chocolate and is so good. The brown is made with chocolate but it tastes just like tootsie rolls. Here is the link to order http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/misc/chocopan.htm

It gets pretty soft to work with so it's best to mix with the other white fondant.

Oh and you can always add flavors to fondant to make it taste better. Lemon works really good.

I'm so happy you are really getting into your cake decorating and enjoy it.

When I come up there I'll have to bring you some of my stuff. I don't use it much anymore. I have so much stuff that I bought and never even used it once. So it would be great to give it to someone who will use it.

So Pretty! Thanks for sharing. I just love to do all sort of thing... I took cake decorating classes years ago but, my stuff never looked like that! Mine was the typical stuff. You are so creative & they have also come out with some great new products. The one thing that hasn't changed... where to store all the stuff between uses?

Thanks for the tips! I will remember them! I have tons of paste coloring for cake decorating...now all I need is that gigantic cupcake pan, luster dust and some fondant...oh, yeah, and that mold, too! Where did you get that fabulous shell mold??? Is it silicone?